AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

Immigration of medical professionals to fill 15,300 positions in Australia

Tuesday, 29 January 2008

The immigration of health professionals could be the answer to Australia's huge gap in the medical sector. Physiotherapists, social workers, radiologists and other health professionals are urgently needed to work in Australia.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, in the three months to November, the number of unfilled jobs in the public and community health sectors rose by 1200 to an alarming 15,300 throughout Australia.

Because of Australia's medical skills shortage, patients have missed out on more than 1 million treatments by health professionals in the past three months, the Health Services Union says.

Union national secretary Kathy Jackson pointed out that governments focused only on the immigration of doctors and nurses, but that they forgot about the rest of the workforce that formed part of the backbone of the health system.

The union represents 70,000 health workers, and it estimates that there are 153,000 fewer "episodes of treatment" a day because of these staff vacancies.

Health professionals, such as physiotherapists, radiologists and social workers are among the skilled vacancies that need to be filled if Australia wants to keep its health system functioning optimally, and a lot of hope is put on immigration to help aid this.

Labour federal and state governments' plans include cutting elective waiting lists and opening more beds. Jackson said that it'll put more pressure on the allied health workforce.

The Department of Health says that between 2003 and June 2007, the number of allied health professionals rose by almost 14.5%. The Department is trying a range of strategies, such as scholarships and overseas recruitment and immigration.

Another solution, according to Professor Richard Madden, of the National Centre for Classification in Health at the University of Sydney, would be to pay cash incentives to those who had left the health industry, similar to the $6000 offered to nurses to return to work.

Nicola Roxon, Federal Health Minister of Australia, said that proposed GP "super clinics" were designed to offer families a convenient place to consult GPs and allied health professionals such as counsellors and physiotherapists.

She believes that the clinics will help attract allied health professionals to areas where they are currently in short supply but in high demand. These include rural and regional areas.

Hundreds of vacancies need to be filled in the medical sector. If you are interested in filling one of these and working and living in Australia, you can find out if you qualify by filling in our free visa eligibility assessment form.

Your medical skills could pave your path to immigration and help the "Lucky Country" stay true to its name.